Printing devices such as duplicating machines, inkjet printers, laser printers and the like are commonly used in offices. Consumable containers of the printing devices include ink cartridges, toner cartridges and the like, and consumables of the printing devices are mainly ink or toner used for recording images. For the convenience of management, a consumable container is usually provided with a storage device for controlling the matching of the consumable container and the printing device and supplying data in the subsequent printing process. The storage device stores the date relating to the consumable container, Which includes: initial data of the consumable container such as the model of the consumable container, a color of a refilled recording material and the capacity of the recording material, and updated data to the initial printing date, the remaining amount of the recording material and the like updated in the printing process. In addition, the printing device further stores the initial data such as the predetermined model of the consumable container and the color of the recording material.
In the beginning of printing, the printing device transmits a read signal to the storage device arranged on the consumable container. After receiving the read signal, the storage device generates a read signal response according to an initial data stored and transmits the same to the printing device. The printing device compares an initial data stored for verifying the consumable container with the received read signal response, and is controlled to record images and texts on a recording medium such as paper after successful matching. During the printing or after the printing, the printing device writes the updated data relating to the initial printing date and the remaining amount of the recording material into the storage device, or updates the information at corresponding positions of the storage device.
If the data relating to the remaining amount of the recording material, read by the printing device from the storage device arranged on the consumable container, indicates the insufficiency of the remaining amount of the recording material, the printing device may remind a user of replacing the consumable container or stopping printing. For example, during the operation of the consumable container, if the data relating to the remaining amount of the recording material, stored in the storage device arranged on the consumable container, is 100 if the recording material is sufficient, and is 0 if the recording material is used up, the printing device may stop imaging or remind the user of replacing a new consumable container if the data relating to the remaining amount of the recording material in the storage device is detected as 0. That is to say, even if a large amount of recording material is remained in the consumable container, the consumable container cannot be continuously used for printing or imaging if the data relating to the remaining amount of the recording material in the storage device indicates the insufficiency of the recording material. In this case, the recording material may be wasted.
The capacity of the recording material in consumable containers manufactured or improved by aftermarket manufacturers is usually different from that of the recording material in consumable containers manufactured by the original manufacturers. As for a consumable container with different recording material capacity with the original one, the data relating to the remaining amount of the recording material stored in the original storage device are not matched with the capacity of the recording material in the consumable container. As such, there may be a large amount of recording materials in the consumable container if the remaining amount of the recording material in the storage device is insufficient.
In order to solve the problem, the aftermarket manufacturers design a storage device of which the capacity is more than the capacity of the recording material in the original consumable container.
The first proposal is that: different storage areas are arranged in the storage device and used for respectively storing a plurality of sets of data relating to the consumable containers, and data stored into other areas can be continuously used after one set of data are rewritten by the printing device, so that one storage device can be used repeatedly.
The second proposal is that: a control circuit is arranged in the storage device and a plurality of parameters are set for the storage device. For example, a reset threshold value is set, if the printing device updates the data relating to the remaining amount of the recording material in the storage device during printing or after printing and the updated data reaches or exceeds the reset threshold value, the control circuit controls the initialization of the partial data stored in the storage device, and the storage device can continue to operate and be matched with the printing device to consume the recording material in the consumable container.
For the first proposal, as a large-capacity memory is required to be used for storing a plurality of sets of data relating to the consumable container, the cost of printing consumables cannot be reduced.
For the second proposal, as a printing device rewrites the data relating to the remaining amount of the recording material in the storage device only after each printing operation, the following cases may occur. For example, the capacity of the consumable container of the printing device shows the capability of printing 150 pages but the storage device can only be used for printing 100 pages, the number of pages having been printed of the storage device is preset to be 0; the reset threshold value of the number of the pages which have been printed is 50; and the reset frequency is limited to be 1. Theoretically, the storage device may reset the number of the pages which have been printed to be 0 if 50 pages have been printed by the printing device, and subsequently, the printing device may also use the storage device for continuous printing of 100 pages, in which case the recording material of the consumable container may be just used up. However, if more than 50 pages are printed by the printing apparatus in one printing operation, as the printing apparatus updates the data in the storage device only after the end of each printing operation, when the number of the pages which have been printed is rewritten to, for example, 70, the storage device executes the reset operation and resets the number of the pages having been printed to be 0 when detecting that the number exceeds the reset threshold value. In this case, the recording material in the consumable container may have been used up and cannot be used for continuous printing when the printing apparatus detects that the storage device may further be used for printing 20 pages. More severely, the storage device does not execute the reset operation when the number exceeds the reset threshold value. Therefore, unnecessary trade disputes tend to occur due to the large deviation between the capacity of the sold consumable container and the set capacity of the recording material in the storage device.
The above analysis is provided by taking the example of only storing the consumption of the recording material into the storage device. As for storage devices only storing the remaining amount of the recording material or storing both the consumption and the remaining amount of the recording material, there are similar problems.
Therefore, how to manage the data in the storage device better is a technical problem to be solved by those skilled in the art.